Posts by fulltimestudent

11

Another Aspect from which to View Prostitution

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

if we put on our western cultural (you know, the ones that say jesus made the world) eye-glasses we will 'see' prostitution as something bad.. the 'christian' influenced view is that prostitution is a criminal racket run by gangsters, and the women (and sometimes men) have either been bullied by their pimps, or drugged until they become addicts and forced to work in brothels.**.

some of that is likely true (at times), but is it always 'truth'?.

australia's government owned abc media network, has an article that invites us to take off our western cultural eye-glasses and see the world as it really is.

fulltimestudent

Clearly, prostitution is a complex profession as all the views expressed so far indicate. May I expand on some comments.

scratchme1010: Also, I wouldn't say it's a "Christian" view of prostitution. First, Christians are not the only ones who share a demeaning perspective towards prostitutes.

Quite true, but within the anglosphere ( Anglo-American sphere) wouldn't you agree that the main negative influence is the church. And there's a lot of nuances in it, as it all get's mixed up with the church's attitudes toward sex.

I know other groups also take a negative view of prostitution. The Chinese government (as an instance) prohibits prostitution, despite the fact that one of the most common offences a senior public servant can be wrist-slapped for, is using prostitutes (usually disguised as too many girl friends). Yet in many hotels in which I've stayed in China, I've experienced (within a short time of checking into my room) a phone call asking me, "Did I want a girl for the night?" When you say, No! they'll ask if you want a boy? Although to be honest, the CPC's attitude to sex may be sourced back to the christian Taiping rebellion (in the mid eighteenth century) that nearly defeated the Qing government.

And the christian church (not just the J-double u's) loves a reformed sinner. The best story reformed prostitute story, I've come across in studying church history (in this case the Eastern Byzantine church) is the story of St. Mary of Egypt.

This St Mary, ran away from home at age 12 and became a street girl who loved sex so much that (sometimes) would not charge the men who used her services. Years later Mary decided to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. She did'nt have enough money to pay for the boat trip, so worked her passage to Palestine laying on her back for the whole voyage.

When they got to Jerusalem and everyone off the boat (including the men who used her services) poured into the church for the festival. But when poor old Mary got to the church, some unseen force kept her out. In the story, she then realises what a terrible sinner she was, and on seeing an image of Mary Theotokos (mother of God Mary) she repents, praying for fogiveness and decides to give up the world. This Mary spent the rest of her life running around the desert as a hermit in constant prayer.

13

A New World is here, and YHWH's version is out of date

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

that highly emotive headline is just to have a wack at bible believers.

but the world around is showing so many signs of change, that it's certainly looking like something new is here.. for example, driverless cars and buses are now possible.

and its the buses that are already hitting the road.. watch this video, and say hello to the usa's olli:.

fulltimestudent

Betheliesalot : Maybe the WTS should charter some of these and fill them with up to date carts that can only hold 3 magazines. They would have a captive audience, and put a few video screens playing "just around the corner" as it goes around the corner...

Hey mate - what a great idea! Stuff the WT, in ten years, they won't have the money to do it.

But commercially!!! - if you have twenty of these things running a certain route, i.e. one ten seater every five minutes, rather than a sixty seater diesel guzzler every 20 minutes, The bus company would have a captive audience to run non-stop advertising videos. They'd be making more money than TV stations.

11

Another Aspect from which to View Prostitution

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

if we put on our western cultural (you know, the ones that say jesus made the world) eye-glasses we will 'see' prostitution as something bad.. the 'christian' influenced view is that prostitution is a criminal racket run by gangsters, and the women (and sometimes men) have either been bullied by their pimps, or drugged until they become addicts and forced to work in brothels.**.

some of that is likely true (at times), but is it always 'truth'?.

australia's government owned abc media network, has an article that invites us to take off our western cultural eye-glasses and see the world as it really is.

fulltimestudent

stan livedeath : ive never used the services of a prostitute,---simply because ive never met one--or know any.. ive dated loads of women. some have cost a lot of money in wining and dining--all for nothing. some have had sex with me for free--just for the asking. would i have used a prostitute--? course i would--if she was attractive and i had the money to spend.

Cool mate - and if you were much less good looking, or with a personality problem, or just old, and without a partner, you may also wish to use such a service. Again if you were physically damaged in some way, 'a sexual services carer,' ( a much nicer expression than the word 'prostitute') visiting you once a month would be quite acceptable, I'm sure.

And, yes! you usually get to choose one that is 'attractive' (I'm sure you mean in both a physical and spiritual sense) to you. In fact friends tell me that in many establishments you can arrange to talk briefly to a number of available women (or men, if you're a woman)

13

A New World is here, and YHWH's version is out of date

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

that highly emotive headline is just to have a wack at bible believers.

but the world around is showing so many signs of change, that it's certainly looking like something new is here.. for example, driverless cars and buses are now possible.

and its the buses that are already hitting the road.. watch this video, and say hello to the usa's olli:.

fulltimestudent

And what about a tram without rail-tracks. Steel rail tracks are replaced with a virtual track imprinted into the road surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr9-J3nOKbE

Sydney (Aust) has had one of its main business (CBD) streets closed for 2+ years while the whole street has been ripped it to relocate services and lay tram tracks. The system illustrated would have avoided that major inconvenience.

Combine that with a facial recognition payment system, which would eliminate a slower card payment system and you may have a very efficient public transport system for CBD areas. Plan it right with a virtual ring track around the CBD and you could eliminate private cars from the CBD.

11

Another Aspect from which to View Prostitution

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

if we put on our western cultural (you know, the ones that say jesus made the world) eye-glasses we will 'see' prostitution as something bad.. the 'christian' influenced view is that prostitution is a criminal racket run by gangsters, and the women (and sometimes men) have either been bullied by their pimps, or drugged until they become addicts and forced to work in brothels.**.

some of that is likely true (at times), but is it always 'truth'?.

australia's government owned abc media network, has an article that invites us to take off our western cultural eye-glasses and see the world as it really is.

fulltimestudent

If we put on our western cultural (you know, the ones that say Jesus made the world) eye-glasses we will 'see' prostitution as something bad.

The 'christian' influenced view is that prostitution is a criminal racket run by gangsters, and the women (and sometimes men) have either been bullied by their pimps, or drugged until they become addicts and forced to work in brothels.**

Some of that is likely true (at times), but is it always 'truth'?

Australia's government owned ABC Media Network, has an article that invites us to take off our western cultural eye-glasses and see the world as it really is. And the view can be dramatically different.

This lady is Tara Taylor, tagged as a mother, grandmother and sex - worker who believes she provides a neccesary service, in particular for lonely men.

Quote: "Ms Tara said many of the men she saw were lonely and struggled with their mental health. "The majority have some form of depression," she said.

Naturally compassionate, her job meant she could play a role in supporting isolated, vulnerable men."

But read the ABC'c web-site coverage of her story for yourself, and see what you think after reading Tara's stroy.
Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-12/regional-sex-worker-speaks-out-kalgoorlie/9247818

** The perspective we 'see' a topic from will influence our opinion of that topic.

For example, everyone thinks marriage is good. But last year in Australa, an average of one woman a week was murdered by her husband.

Looking at marriage from that perspective, marriage can be toxic.

12

"‘Alien’ manuscript from 15th-century decoded using AI"

by glenster in

voynich manuscript https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/voynich_manuscript.

scientists have harnessed the power of artificialintelligence to unlock the secrets of an ancientmanuscript that has baffled experts.. discovered in the 19th century, the voynich manuscriptuses “alien” characters that have long puzzled crypto-graphers and historians.

now, however, computingscientists at the university of alberta say they aredecoding the mysterious 15th-century text.. computing science professor greg kondrak and graduatestudent bradley hauer applied artificial intelligence tofind ambiguities in the text’s human language.. the first stage of the research was working out themanuscript’s language.

fulltimestudent

steve2 : More hocus pocus on which to focus.

Sure, but the contents of the book are far less interesting, than the method of translation. The AI technique provides some hope that we may soon decipher the script that the Indus river people used, and we may be able to understand more about that interesting civilisation

5

Jesus Heals a Man in a Healing Temple Dedicated to the Pagan God Asclepiuss

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

i'm sure that christian apologists could invent all kind of reasons for jesus to enter such a temple, but this story also.

begs the question, as to why so many jews were waiting in that temple for asclepius to heal them?.

but we should read the account in john 5:1-4 first:.

fulltimestudent

There seems little doubt that the pool was part of n Asclepion, which means that all the people in the facility, waiting for a healing act to be performed, knew that they wre in a pagan temple.

I first saw interesting item of biblical trivia this past week in a post by a Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg. who owns a web-site called Israel Bible Centre.

The page I read is at: https://israelbiblecenter.com/was-bethesda-jewish-or-pagan/

I found it interesting !

Here's another image of Asclepius with his daughter Hygieia, remarkable remnants of a different form of worship to the Jesus tradition.

5

Jesus Heals a Man in a Healing Temple Dedicated to the Pagan God Asclepiuss

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

i'm sure that christian apologists could invent all kind of reasons for jesus to enter such a temple, but this story also.

begs the question, as to why so many jews were waiting in that temple for asclepius to heal them?.

but we should read the account in john 5:1-4 first:.

fulltimestudent

I'm sure that christian apologists could invent all kind of reasons for Jesus to enter such a temple, but this story also

begs the question, as to why so many Jews were waiting in that temple for Asclepius to heal them?

But we should read the account in John 5:1-4 first:

"After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda,
having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the
moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water:
whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever
disease he had."

Here's a model of the pool, the remains of which have been found.

Most of western Asia (including Palestine and Judah if you wish a distinction) had long been in the hands of

conquerors (Babylon, Iran, Greece and Rome), all of whom left their mark on the religion of the Jews, the last two

most of all.

Asclepius, the divine son of Apollo (whom some scholars suggest may have been a model for Jesus, that is, the

divine Jesus, (in contrast to the human Jesus), was the Greek god of healing. Healing temples (called Asclepion)

were built through the domains of both the Greek Empire and the succeeding Roman Empire.

Here's a representation of Asclepius:

You'll likely see straight away his staff, encircled with a serpent is still used today as a symbol used by healingservices.

Apollo, Asclepius's father was also a healer, but in Hellenistic mythology, Asclepius surpasssed his father, to the

point where he could bring others back to life from the brink of death and beyond. That helps explain why the gospel

accounts place such an emphasis that their writers imagined Jesus healing and resurrecting the dead.

Even his daughters names are still with us today. One daughter was Hygieia, from which we derive the word hygiene,

and another daughter named Panacea, which name we use for substances thought to be universal remedies.

16

New Loophole Created: You can cheat on your spouse without him/her being able to divorce you

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

the new "pillowgate" video exposed a loophole in the witnesses´s thinking, showing how dangerous and stupid legalism is.. this loophole is sure to destroy many people´s lives.. 1) they said that two men masturbating at the same time in front of each other does not constitute "porneia".. 2) "porneia" is the only biblical reason for divorce.. 3) from 1) we can also get two women masturbating in front of each other, or a man and a woman masturbating in front of each other, does not constitute "porneia".4) most people would consider masturbating at the same time with another person to be cheating, and a logical reason for divorce.. so this will lead to many witnesses going to the elders and being told that they cannot divorce this person who clearly cheated on them.

then, if this person (the "innocent mate") divorces and marries someone else, then that person would be the one possibly disfellowshipped!the implications of the loophole are so stupid and so damaging!i predict another flip-flop.

"considering things more closely, this is "porneia"... or doubling down on it ("sorry but that is what the biblical limits are") or just fading away into those things that only 1% of jw´s know it´s a rule....

fulltimestudent

Turning the pages of 'New Light''

Haha !!!

It seems I once took part in wrongly disfellowshipping a JW who had (more than once) masturbated in front of his best friend's wife, while tellling her what he really wanted to do to her..

Wonderful how the ever-present YHWH/JESUS combo makes everything clearer. We should just have told him, "You're very naughty boy, don't do it again, or we will have to give a severe talking to."

13

Daniel explanation

by Freedom rocks in

can anyone explain to me please about the statue in the daniel prophecy coz i've always been curious about what people have discovered about it?

do the jws have the only explanation?.

fulltimestudent

Freedom rocks: ":Can anyone explain to me please about the statue in the Daniel prophecy."

I think most scholarship would understand Daniel's dream, in much the same way as Revelation. Pretending to be prophetic in order to encourage the faithful ones to stand fast because one day YHWH will take action against the pagans.

I think there can be little doubt that it was written after Alexander the Great conquered Persia (who had previously ruled the area) and ushered in a long period of Hellenistic influence. You can find a clue to that Hellenistic influence in a Greek poem written by Hesiod. He wrote that around 700 BCE and while Greek influence was almost certainly being felt in the eastern Mediterranean before Alexanders time, after Alexander's conquest, Greek colonies were established in Jewish territory.

Anyway back to my point, Hesiod's poem was didactic - written to instruct and teach.

In the section called, "The Five Ages," the poet describes five ages of humans.

The first were golden, " Golden was the first race of articulate folk ... they had everything good."

Later there was a 'silver' generation, not as good as the frst ... then a third generation of bronze , not as good as the silver, who only cared about fighting and war. Then a fourth, and a fifth - the iron age - the age of trouble.

It would not take much imagination for a Jewish writer to adapt that to the dream of Daniel,